The Davidson Wildcats baseball team has three scholarship players. In the program’s 115-year existence, they never made it to the NCAA tournament.
They grinded their way through the Atlantic 10 Tournament just to get to the NCAA Tournament, winning three games in two days. And even then, their resume didn’t stack up against the three other teams in their bracket; they had the highest earn run average, lowest batting average and the worst record (32-24).
Davidson’s magical run continues in the NCAA baseball Super Regionals. (Photo Courtesy: Davidson Athletics)
But the small private school about 20 miles north of Charlotte did some big things along Tobacco Road, sleighing a Goliath two times over, and making quite the tournament debut.
With a 2-1 win last night over North Carolina, the No. 2 overall seed, the Wildcats punched an improbable super ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals as a four-seed. They pulled it off with timely hitting, great pitching, and a stellar defensive plays.
One of the Wildcats’ key guys on the mound, Durin O’Linger, got straight A’s this past semester, and is going to pharmacy school. The bearded wonder threw more than 200 pitches over four days during the Atlantic 10 Tournament, including 141 during one start, and got the key save by throwing two scoreless innings in last night’s regional-clinching win.
SUPER REGIONALS – HERE WE COME! #CatsWin 2-1 over UNC to win the Chapel Hill Regional! #CatsAreWild #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/4R9dcJyPxm
— Davidson Baseball (@dcbaseball_) June 5, 2017
“The story of our team all year,” Wildcats’ junior center fielder Brian Miller told the News & Observer. “Guys just fighting, until the end.”
Davidson is the sixth No. 4 seed to win a regional under the current format. Back in 2014, Stony Brook made a run to the College World Series. Fresno State became the true four-seed Cinderella story in 2008, by winning the whole thing.
“Everyone is a daydreamer,” O’Linger said. “But if you daydream too much, you get lost in the reality of what’s going on.”
North Carolina probably hopes this is just a bad dream, but it is really happening. Their promising season is over, and a 115-year wait for the team that took them down is turning into something even more special.
The glass slipper fits. #RoadtoOmaha pic.twitter.com/YzlduHfLWf
— Davidson Baseball (@dcbaseball_) June 5, 2017
They say history repeats itself, and this isn’t the first time Davidson has shocked the world. In 2008, Steph Curry and the 10-seeded Wildcats powered through Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin during a magical run to the Elite Eight.
Now the “baby-faced assassin” is an NBA superstar with the Golden State Warriors, on a star-studded super team, that is two wins away from their second NBA title in three years.
How’s that for not being too much of a daydreamer?